Mobile Musicians: Three MP3-Players — THG.RU

Making MP3 Music Mobile

The MP3 format is continuously gaining popularity. Thanks to this boom, all kinds of MP3 players are hitting the market, either for your home of if you are on the road. Unlike music files on a normal CD, MP3 is able to compress songs to much smaller file sizes without losing much quality whatsoever.

MP3 is particularly known among PC-Users. Today you can find MP3 files of every flavor all over the internet. After downloading them to your hard drive, you can play them over your computer or your stereo.

In the past, you either needed to burn a music-CD, or record tapes or Mini-Disks to take your favorite songs along with you. Each of those medias is restricted to about an hour of music only. The portable MP3-devices available today you can either store a lot more songs or they are smaller and not shock-sensitive. One of the first portable MP3-players was Diamond’s Rio. We compared the Diamond Rio 500 with the two newcomers.

Creative Jukebox

Features

This mobile device is completely different from all other approaches. It’s the size of a mobile CD-player, but not as light. It comes with a 2.5″ IDE hard drive with 6 GB capacity as storage media. Thanks to this, you may store up to 100 hours of MP3 music that was created at 128 Kbit/s. All files have to be copies via USB; the required cable and software is of course included.

Using it

According to the name «Jukebox», this player is able to play files according to your wishes. You can either composite your own play lists using the PC software or directly with the device. Using your computer is the much better and faster way, since the player’s software is not really comfortable to use. A huge disadvantage is the sorting by MP3 tags. If you make MP3 files yourself, it’s very easy to forget including the tags. I’d like to see the tracks listed by file name as an alternative. The only options to sort are album, interpreter or type of music. Fortunately it’s very simple to find files if you are specifically looking for them.

Software

The program to copy files onto the Jukebox is quite easy to use. Play lists can be composed in only few seconds and file administration is no problem at all. At a capacity of 6 GB you should always organize your files in several folders. Again, the MP3 tags are quite important.

Transferring MP3 files over the USB interface works properly at about 500 KB/s. If you want to fill the Jukebox’s hard drive at once, please take into account that it will take more than three hours.

That’s the front side of the Nomad Jukebox. Here you can see the IR-port, which is not for data transfers, but for the optional remote control.

Functions

You can vary the playback speed between x0.5-speed and double speed. In addition there is a parametric equalizer, which allows treble and bass to be changed by +-12 dB each. The Jukebox also features a digital signal processor to simulate acoustic characteristics of certain buildings or places. There is a second jack on the backside of the Jukebox; here you can attach another pair of speakers to improve the 3D sound experience. As one could expect, Creative Labs uses their own EAX 3D sound system (Environmental Audio Extensions), which can also be found on most Sound Blaster cards.

There is also a microphone port which lets you record voice or noises as long as there is space left on the hard drive. As long as you don’t use the power supply, the batteries will limit this to max. 4 hours.

The price for Creative’s Jukebox will be approximately $500. This is a lot of money, but you will also get quite a lot for it. No competitor provides 6 GB, so Creative is clearly taking the lead in the market. The package contains so-called back phones. That’s a pair of headphones, which leaves the bracket in your neck. Basically that’s a good approach, but this particular model is not very comfortable to wear. The sound quality of those headphones is nothing special as well.

I hope that Creative is going to improve the integrated software and the headphones until the release in October.

Oneboss Booster Discman

A Discman is certainly nothing special today, but the booster is a device that can both play back music CDs and MP3-CDs. A normal CD holds up to 700 MB, which is the maximum capacity for the Booster. You shouldn’t start to compare the capacity to Creative’s jukebox, as Booster’s price is only $ 105. Don’t forget that you can easily exchange the CD if you want to play something different.

The error correction worked properly and also the 50-second shock resistant memory does quite a good job. Shaking it for maybe a minute did not stop the music, but I wonder if this device is good enough for joggers.

The player does not look very attractive. Be careful when pushing the open button, as it will cause the device to tilt. The rubbers at the bottom should be placed at the very edge of the device, which should prevent it from tilting.

In my opinion the placement of the buttons is not very logical, but at least it does not reduce the functionality. The player’s concept does not seem to be ready for complex recorded discs, so you should only create few directories.

If you like play lists you should rather determine your file order before writing the disc. You will love the booster if you only want to insert a disc and play all tracks one-by-one. The earplugs are the only part, which could be called inferior. They are too small for most ears and will fall out as soon as you move your head.

$105 is a very attractive price. Both competitors are clearly more expensive, but they also go completely different ways. If you want to obtain a portable CD-player anyway and you don’t have high demands regarding the quality impression, you should also consider the Booster. The prices for CD-R media are incredibly low, so that these costs can easily be left out of your calculations.

Diamond Rio 500

The Rio 500 is the second generation of Diamond’s MP3 player. It’s as small as a credit card and looks very nice. It can be used without consulting the manual, as everything has been placed logically. Both the little display and the sound quality are good.

The one and only disadvantage — except the high price of almost $ 280 — is the memory size of 64 MB. On the other hand, the Rio 500 can compensate this by its very small size. However, the playback will be finished after one hour. You may expand the storage capacity by adding a Smart Media card (up to 64 MB), but consider the costs. Such a card adds at least another $120, so that you pay about $ 420 for the whole enchilada. In my opinion that’s too much money for mobility, even if the player is as small as the Rio.

If you like to do biking tours or if you regularly run large distances you should consider the Rio. There are no mechanical components in it, thus even the strongest impacts on your run will not stop the playback.

Feature Comparison

Conclusion

The Jukebox represents a new generation of MP3 players, which is neither using CDs nor expensive memory chips. Coming with a hard drive, its weight is quite high, reducing its mobility. The high price doesn’t help as well. However, the Jukebox has an impressive storage capacity. From that point of view, it brings the benefits of a CD-changer to the mobile sound segment.

The Booster is suitable for outdoor activities, as its 50 seconds anti-shock memory should keep the music playing in most situations.

The only candidate that can be called a 100% mobile MP3 player is the Rio 500, as it does not have any mechanical component. You should even be able to use it for parachuting. If you don’t mind the high price, you can take one hour of music with you almost everywhere.

Choosing a winner amongst those three would neither be fair nor helpful. Each has its specific benefits and flaws. It really depends on your own wishes and requirements. The Jukebox is like a big Cadillac, the Oneboss Booster could be seen as a Ford pickup and the Rio is something like a Lotus Elise.